Ghost Images
by Macx
Summary: sequel to Catharsis. Overhearing someting about Sohryu, Terazuma starts to wonder... and to doubt. M-M relationships! Read disclaimer, please! Complete in one chapter.


TITLE: Ghost Images  
kind of a sequel to Catharsis 

AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee

DISCLAIMER: not mine. Definitely not! I just play with them and hope I tread on no one's toes.

Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):  
English is not my first language; it's German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize g> The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...

ARCHIVE: yes

WARNINGS: none

TYPE: yaoi

**RATING: M, for FFNet specifically. All explicit scenes have been cut. The full version will soon be available on our website.**

**If you feel this is still MA, then tell ME before you have FFNet throw me and ym stories off the server, thankyouverymuch.**

PAIRING: Sohryu/Terazuma (other pairings mentioned)

FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g>

A few years ago the idea would have been ludicrous, Tsuzuki thought as his eyes strayed around the establishment he was currently in. It was a small tea house at the outskirts of GensouKai center and it had the most fantastic cakes. Tsuzuki's eyes had lit up at the variation of goodies on display up front. There were also sandwiches of all styles, chocolate covered fruits, pies, sundaes, ice cream... whatever he wanted. The owners also prepared hearty meals and sold alcohol, something that appealed more to his two companions.

Sitting inside the rustic looking room that housed a multitude of chairs, couches and tables, Tsuzuki was happy with himself and everything. This was such a great day...

... a day he wouldn't have dreamed about having say... ten years ago. He would never have dreamed about coming to GensouKai to share a drink or a tea with a friend, least of all Terazuma Hajime, and especially not while in the company of Touda.

As it was, that were his companions.

Tsuzuki had come for a visit because he had not much to do in Meifu, with all the reports being written already and no new cases in sight. He would be back in a few hours, he had told Hisoka, who had only waved him off. His partner knew he could reach him should there be an emergency, and there wasn't.

Terazuma had already been in GensouKai and somehow all of them had ended up in this place. Touda had actually mentioned it, which meant the hell serpent had come here before.

Touda sipped at his beer.

:Seems your friend hasn't made that much progress after all: he remarked almost casually over the link.

Tsuzuki glanced at him over his own drink. :What's that supposed to mean:

Of course Terazuma had made progress. He and Sohryu were a couple and it was a serious relationship.

:Sohryu is a _dragon_, Asato. What do you think it's supposed to mean:

Actually he had no clue. :

One black brow rose a little as Touda swirled the last contents of his beer mug. :Dragons are real wildcats in bed when they let go, especially Sohryu:

This time Tsuzuki almost spewed his drink all over the table.

"Ex-cuse me?" he blurted, realizing only then that a pair of confused red eyes was directed at him.

Tsuzuki rallied for control. "I mean... excuse me for a minute, will you? Touda."

He grabbed the serpent's wrist and pulled the shikigami with him into the next best corner.

"What the hell were you talking about, Touda?" he queried softly.

"Sohryu."

"I know we were talking about Sohryu," Tsuzuki hissed. "What was that with the wildcat thing?"

"Ah. That." Touda smiled.

"Yes, that."

"Didn't you know?"

"Don't give me that all innocent crap, Touda. Didn't I know what? How would you possibly know about Sohryu, except if you..." Tsuzuki trailed off, realizing what he was saying – and that Touda wasn't denying anything. "You were? You and... Sohryu? When!"

"It's been a very long time, Tsuzuki, nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about!" Tsuzuki was close to yelling at his shikigami. "You are talking about Sohryu here!"

"Yes. So?"

"And what about Keijin?"

Touda gave a little sigh. "Keijin wasn't even born at that time, Tsuzuki, and has nothing to do with it. Why are you so upset about it anyway?"

"Why am I..." Tsuzuki gaped. "You are telling me oh so casually that you and Sohryu have been lovers, in a bar, with Sohryu's partner present, and you ask why I am so upset about it!"

The golden eyes held an intense expression, emotions clear in them. "Sohryu and I were what you'd call teenagers back then, and teenagers experiment. And don't ask me if I loved him."

Tsuzuki stared into the reptilian eyes for a long minute before he turned to look at their table – and groaned miserably.

It was empty.

No Terazuma in sight.

"He heard," he moaned.

They had totally forgotten about Terazuma's fine-tuned senses. Now that he and the Black One finally lived in a balanced relationship, Terazuma used his senses almost casually, no longer flinching away from them.

Like now.

When he had heard them talk.

Just great.

Tsuzuki sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Let's go."

Touda followed him silently as they left the bar. There was no sign of the shinigami outside either and Tsuzuki took a moment to think.

"It won't do you or him any good to follow him, Tsuzuki. This isn't your fault."

"I know! It's just... I don't want this relationship to hurt from what he just found out."

"Terazuma knew Sohryu had had lovers before him, male and female."

"But he didn't know about you, Touda!" Tsuzuki argued.

"True."

"Neither did I."

Touda arched an eyebrow. "I didn't know it was required for a shikigami to tell his shinigami master about his love life."

Tsuzuki rolled his eyes. "Oh stop it!"

The serpent smiled. "But I could."

"Don't wanna hear it."

"Oh?"

A glare. "Why? Is there more shocking news somewhere?"

"Actually, you know all about my love life now."

"Uh-huh..."

"Unless you want to know about Byakko and me."

"No, thanks. I get enough echoes as it is."

Touda smirked and the two men walked down the road that led deeper into GensouKai center. Tsuzuki was still worried about Terazuma, but he knew Touda was right. His friend had to deal with this on his own terms, even if Tsuzuki wasn't happy about it.

"So you don't want to know about me?"

"Nope."

"How about Rikugo?"

Tsuzuki frowned. "Do I want to know about Rikugo?" he tried to clarify.

Touda grinned.

"You and Rikugo...?" There was sheer disbelief in there. No way. No way had Touda... No frigging way!

The shikigami grinned. "No, not me. Sohryu."

Tsuzuki stopped in mid-step, almost freezing.

Rikugo.

Sohryu.

"Sohryu and... Rikugo?" he gasped.

"Yep."

His mind tried to wrap around that particular image and, much to his surprise, had little difficulty. Two handsome, attractive men...

"They... they were... don't tell me they still are!"

Touda laughed. "No. It's been over for a while."

"Oh..."

Would shocks never end!

Tsuzuki glared at his shikigami. "So why are you telling me?"

Touda grinned cheekily, something no one would think him capable of. It was such mischief, Tsuzuki felt a little thrill at seeing his friend so open.

"I just wanted to see your face when you imagined them together."

Tsuzuki elbowed him in the ribs, drawing a mock complaint of pain. They continued on their way, talking amiably together, but Tsuzuki still kept half a mind on Terazuma, hoping his friend wasn't too shocked.

° ° °

It had been a shock, plain and simple.

Not that Sohryu had had past lovers. That was a given. The man was centuries old and he hadn't spent his time as a celibate monk in some remote convent. Sohryu had been married, too. Sure, there had been sex. Of course there had been partners. Male and female. Before he had met his wife and after she had died. No one could be abstinent for five hundred years.

It also hadn't been much of a shock, a real shock, that Touda and Sohryu had been an item. Why not? Touda wasn't exactly hard to look at and so what if Sohryu and Touda had slept together? Touda was Byakko's partner now and Terazuma knew how much Sohryu loved him.

Well, okay, so it had been a little shock to hear about it. Touda was a former criminal, a highly dangerous shikigami, and he belonged to Tsuzuki. It wasn't really something Terazuma had wanted to know, but now he did. He had overheard it.

No, it had been something else.

The wild cat comment. That one had stuck like glue.

Sohryu had yet to let go, to really let go and lose control, and control was something he would never want to give up. In their encounters, as hot and loving as they had been so far, Sohryu had avoided losing control in all and every way. Terazuma loved what they did together, how the dragon made him feel, but what was different between him and Touda? If he had interpreted the words correctly, Sohryu had let Touda take him, that he had bottomed.

Terazuma had no problem with being on the receiving end, but he knew for a fact that Sohryu liked it, too. A few experiments with some agile fingers had shown him. Why not the whole way?

° ° °

Sohryu stepped into his bed room, stopping when he saw a very familiar shape sitting on the bed.

"Hajime. That's a surprise..."

Sohryu blinked when the other man didn't really react, just watched him from expressionless red eyes, shifting his unlit cigarette between his lips. Cigarette? Oh great... Terazuma didn't smoke that much anymore, but every now and then Sohryu noticed his lover seemed to feel the craving for nicotine. Or he was just playing with the thing itself, and that was never a good sign – like now.

"Hajime?"

"Touda, hm?"

"Touda? I don't understand..."

"Bet you don't," Terazuma took the cold cigarette and studied it. "You and that snake?"

"What?" Sohryu's eyes widened and he sank down on the couch. "What are you talking about?"

"What's not to understand, Sohryu? You and Touda were lovers. "

_I'll kill that snake_, Sohryu thought, mind whirling.

How had Terazuma heard of that if not from Touda? No one else knew. Well, some did. Like Genbu. Byakko, too. But they wouldn't go around blabbing about it with just anyone.

Then again, neither would Touda.

"Yes, we were. That was a long time ago and I don't even think about it anymore. I didn't think it would be important to you."

"Oh yes?"

Red eyes flashed and Sohryu winced inwardly. Wrong thing to say.

"You didn't think it would be important? Hell, you've been screwing Touda, of all people."

_I better not tell him about Rikugo... _

"What's the problem, Hajime? You know I had lovers before. I was married, for crying out loud. And I don't ask about your past either."

"It's not a matter of asking. My former lovers aren't around me day by day, aren't bonded to a colleague of yours."

"So that's it. You're jealous?"

"I am not jealous!"

"Looks like that to me. I assure you, Hajime, Touda and I were almost seven centuries ago, more than ten times your lifetime. We were young, we grew up together. And if I may remind you, I sentenced Touda to prison, I put him into the restraints of that control mechanisms -- which must have been damn painful, by the way – and I tried him again when I thought he had misused his bond to Tsuzuki, had abused our trust. I would have been the one to put him to death if the verdict had been guilty, former lover or not. I love you."

"Enough to put the same trust in me that you had put into Touda?" Terazuma said softly and Sohryu blinked in confusion.

Huh? Now what? How had they come from the hidden accusations to trust?

"What do you mean? Of course I trust you..."

"Enough to let me take you?"

What?

"What?"

Where had that come from all of a sudden?

"Would you let me top, Sohryu?"

Okay, he was officially confused now. From Touda to being top? What...? How...?

They had never talked about positions in bed. It was almost natural the way they slept together, came together, that Sohryu would be the one on top, though he had no true preferences there.

Well, he hadn't had, he reminded himself. With Touda, they had switched.

With Terazuma...He had been new to the whole thing, with loving a man, and Sohryu had simply taught him... about pleasure... about feeling good...

"Are you dissatisfied? Hajime ... "

"That's not it... you're gentle and... I'm not a woman, okay?" Terazuma snapped.

"I never thought of you as a woman."

Of course he hadn't. Sohryu would never project anything into Terazuma that the shinigami wasn't. Terazuma Hajime was a man: there wasn't a female part about him. Sohryu knew those hard planes, the muscles rippling under warm skin, the arch of the slender form against his touches, the hot arousal his fingers loved to tease. No, he would never treat him or think of him like a woman.

"Hajime, when we met the very concept of male loving was completely alien to you. I didn't want to hurt you – or be hurt for that matter."

"That was months ago! You still treat me like I'd break!" the shinigami accused him.

"I didn't want to scare you by demanding something you're not ready for."

Red eyes almost glowed with anger. "I'm not fragile! You want something harder, a little rougher, then show me! Tell me! Let me decide! Or do you think that once you started, you can't stop? Or that I can't stop you?"

Sohryu gazed into the emotionally contorted face. "What is this really about, Hajime? What do you want from me?"

"I don't know, okay?" Terazuma almost yelled at him. "I just... stop behaving like I'm some kind of porcelain doll! I want to see you wild and undone, Sohryu. I love you! I want your passion, not some watered down version of it!"

"You have it," the dragon said softly.

"I want it completely," Terazuma repeated.

Sohryu interlaced their fingers and leaned forward, brushing their lips together. "You have it," he repeated tenderly. "I'm sorry you've felt like this so far."

Red eyes gazed at him, then Terazuma responded to the kiss, opening up as Sohryu explored his mouth.

When they finally separated, Sohryu smiled a little more. "Want to get a breath of fresh air?" he asked.

Terazuma raised both eyebrows. "Fresh air?"

"It's what I had planned on doing today. Get out of here, far away from work and the matters of GensouKai. You and me, and no one else."

"I'd like that," was the soft reply.

Sohryu rose, pulling his lover with him. "Let's go before someone discovers my plans."

Terazuma chuckled and followed him.

°

Sohryu inhaled deeply as he stretched his wings and launched into the crisp air. He hadn't been in this part of GensouKai for ages, hadn't visited his 'winter residence' in the mountains for more than five hundred years. This was a special place to him, full of peace and love, but after his family had died nothing had pulled him here. His feelings had died with them and he hadn't been able to feel peace in a very long time.

The chilly air pulled at his wings and he gave in, adjusting them so he would glide higher. There was a soft rumble coming from under him and when he looked down, the Black One roared a friendly challenge at him, stretching his own wings as he rushed past him. With an answering snarl Sohryu took it and dove past the form of the black shikigami.

The lion roared and followed.

The chase was on.

From the ground it looked like an elegant dance. Blue against black, against a cloud dotted sky. Diving, rising, left, right, up, down, falling, wings snapping open, rising again. It looked effortless, beautiful and elegant.

° ° °

Sohryu landed smoothly in front of his cabin and changed into his human form, panting with the afterglow of the race. His skin was flushed, his hair looked wild, he was so completely not the representative of the Emperor right now, and he couldn't care less.

With a soft sound a large feline landed beside him, changing smoothly from a black lion into a human form, and then he looked into the hot eyes of his lover. Terazuma was breathing hard as well and the excitement of their flight was visible on his face.

Closing the distance between them Terazuma sneaked a hand around his neck and pulled, crushing their lips together in a passionate kiss like he had never done before, and the very sensation made Sohryu's blood boil – damn, he was a dragon after all. He closed his arms around his lover's form, feeling Terazuma moan softly as he melted against his body.

"Sohryu...," he breathed, head falling back and exposing his neck and throat to the demanding lips.

Grabbing his wrist Terazuma pushed his hand down between their bodies, placing it on the very obvious evidence of his desire.

Sohryu squeezed gently, causing his lover to buck into his grip and moan helplessly.

"Want you... now, Sohryu... no teasing..."

Sohryu snarled softly and pulled his lover inside.

The way to the bedroom was longer than ever, but finally he pushed Terazuma onto the bed, watching breathlessly as the shinigami looked up at him with burning red eyes, letting his legs fall open in a not so subtle invitation.

A growl escaped the dragon and he straddled the slender form, pinning his wrists to the bed. Red eyes flared, teeth bared in an almost feral expression, and Terazuma twisted against him. His body thrummed with energy, an energy Sohryu felt run through his own body as well.

"Hajime..." he whispered harshly, then captured his mouth in a hard kiss.

Terazuma responded with just as much power. There was an unexpected twist and Sohryu found himself rolled around onto his back with his lover perched over him. The lithe, muscular form, naked... the black hair tousled, the red eyes filled with fire... it was the most erotic sight he had ever seen. He responded strongly to it; very strongly.

°

He felt the lion inside him stir restlessly. The Black One didn't want to come out, but...he wanted more. He wanted... a lot more.

Terazuma bent down onto the long lithe body presenting itself in front of his eyes, and he claimed his lover's lips, feeling sweat slick skin glide over his and stirring a fire that he had felt only once before. Pushing his knee between the other man's thighs he parted Sohryu's legs, settling between them. He felt Sohryu's hips twitch when their groins touched and moan into the kiss. The sweet sound made him shiver, the Black One mirroring the feeling inside him and sending it back increased.

More.

He wanted more. He wanted to hear Sohryu moan, helpless with desire, he wanted to hear him pant, wanted to feel him writhe underneath him, see his face when he would allow him to come and hear him scream his name. He wanted to love Sohryu.

For a moment Terazuma was startled, looking down into the lust-filled blue-gray eyes, dilated with emotions.

Since when had he become so dominant?

Sohryu's fast breathing reached his senses. He felt the heat rising from his lover, felt the tension, the shivers, each pulse of blood. His eyes fixed on the slender column of the throat.

A growl rose inside him.

Screw dominance issues.

He wanted this man. Now.

Terazuma dove into another kiss, claiming his mate, and he got the same response. Heated, needy, hungry...

The Black One rumbled, the alpha male coming to the forefront. His mate, his dragon, his lover, his Sohryu.

His.

Just his.

Thank gods the scratches on his back would heal quickly.

° ° °

Terazuma stroked over the soft skin of his lover's abdomen underneath the silk shirt, fascinated by the way the muscles were starting to quiver when he touched special spots he hadn't even known were there. They had been here for about a week now, and slowly the dragon seemed to visibly relax. When they had made love after chasing each other through the cold and clear air Sohryu had let go for the first time since he knew him. Terazuma had taken what he wanted, had given pleasure, had touched and kissed and licked and stroked, he had left marks on the smooth skin, marks of ownership.

Sohryu had surrendered. He had given himself up to his partner completely, and it had been the most heady experience ever for Terazuma. Both of them hadn't needed much foreplay it had been one hot encounter, leaving them both utterly sated and pleasantly exhausted.

And Terazuma longed for more.

He wanted to feel this again; he wanted Sohryu again.

Blue-gray eyes gazed at him, filled with lazy warmth, love, so many emotions just for him. They were a far cry from the blue-gray eyes he looked into when Sohryu was the representative of the Emperor. This expression was only for him.

"Hajime?" Sohryu asked, voice as lazy as his expression.

Strong hands caressed Terazuma's skin through the shirt, following unseen trails as they explored his chest.

"Love you," Terazuma whispered before stealing a kiss. A long, deep kiss. One that spoke lengths.

Sohryu moved underneath him, his legs spreading, and the signals were quite clear. Terazuma let his hands wander, tease and stroke and pet, until they touched the hard evidence of Sohryu's arousal still covered by his pants. The dragon lifted his hips to push into the touch.

"Want you," Terazuma murmured against one ear before nibbling at it, following the pointed tip to the lobe.

Sohryu's gasp was answer enough.

"Mine," Terazuma whispered.

"Yours," the dragon murmured back.

Hajime started with the buttons, slipping each through the button hole and exposing more and more skin. Sohryu watched him, an expression of fascination and arousal on his features. Terazuma leaned forward and kissed the exposed skin, feeling and hearing the hitching breath. Like unwrapping a package, he opened the soft material keeping the wonderful body from him and pushed it past the shoulders and down toned arms. He moved his finger tips over the strong muscles that he knew lay under the skin.

Terazuma explored and touched and kissed, undressing his lover slowly, and meticulously. Sohryu moved with his touch, sometimes sighing, sometimes almost moaning, but never crying out loud. The near silence of this act was more erotic and arousing than any screams of pleasure.

Finally splayed before him, naked, on the bed, Sohryu was a feast for the eyes and Terazuma intended to make so much more of it. His own clothes flew across the room and finally they were both naked. He bent over his prone lover and started by kissing him. Sohryu responded beautifully, hands clasping Terazuma, curling around his neck, weaving into his hair in a caress, and Hajime deepened the exploration of the wet cavern. Minutes passed as they nipped and licked and lightly bit at the other mouth, tongues moving together, teasing, darting and meeting.

Terazuma finally moved down the chin and slender column of the throat and neck, nipping at the tender skin, eliciting a sharp gasp of surprise as he left a tiny mark at the base. He didn't stop there, just went down further to the two hardening nubs and gave them his undivided attention. Sohryu jerked briefly, another gasp leaving his lips, then he started to squirm.

"Hajime!" Sohryu exclaimed as he gently nibbled at the current object of his attention.

"Yes?"

He swirled his tongue around the left one, thumbing the other.

A shuddering sigh was the answer.

Terazuma chuckled against the wet, sensitive nub and blew on it, drawing a soft intake of air. He kissed down south, spending some time with the belly button before he reached the soft stretch of skin that creased between the legs, nuzzling it.

Sohryu's legs twitched as he didn't know whether to pull away or curl up. Terazuma just caught the twisting hips, ignoring the straining arousal so close by, while he worshipped that hyper-sensitive stretch of his lover. He drew his tongue in a long lick over the skin, then released the hips. His fingers ghosted over the shapely legs, feather-light in their caress and no more than a tickle against skin.

"Terazuma... please... no... stop..." Sohryu begged, breath coming in pants.

"Stop?" the shinigami murmured and looked up.

He met a pair of passion-glazed, blue-gray orbs. Sohryu was highly aroused, needy, and he was very close to begging for it.

"Altogether?" he teased.

It got him a dark glare that was nullified by the hot desire warring against it.

"I'll stop. Sure." He ran his thumb over the hot skin, drawing a whimper. "If that's your wish. Too bad, though." Another caress, this time with more pressure, then another, and he removed his hand.

"Hajime!"

He leaned over the other man, noting with pleasure how far gone Sohryu was by now.

"Yes?" the shinigami whispered hotly.

"Don't..."

"Don't what?"

"Don't stop. Need you. Want you."

He placed a soft kiss against the panting mouth, meeting the eager tongue. Sohryu's arms came up and around him, pressing them together, and Terazuma heard himself hiccup with barely restrained pleasure as they touched again. He didn't have to ask what Sohryu wanted; he knew. He strained slightly against the hold and Sohryu gave willingly, though his smoldering eyes told Terazuma that if the shinigami didn't plan on doing something even better, he'd pay for it.

Oh, he had something planned.

Something much better.

° ° °

He wished it would never end.

Laying together, snuggled into the sheet, Sohryu reveled in the closeness of his lover, the soft sounds around them, the breathing, the heart beat, the sheer life he felt radiating from Terazuma Hajime. He loved him. Pure and simple. Sohryu knew this was it for him. He had found what he had been looking for. In form of an angel of death.

There was lust and love, acceptance and need, desire and then something deep inside his soul Sohryu couldn't put into words.

He sighed sleepily. An arm wrapped around his middle and Terazuma snuggled closer.

"Comfy?" came a murmur.

"Very."

"Good."

Sohryu played with the unruly black hair. Terazuma's head lay against his side, warm puffs of air touching Sohryu's skin.

"Love you," the shinigami murmured.

Sohryu felt something inside of him blossom and bloom, as it always did in such tender moment. "Thank you for this night," he whispered.

Red eyes peeked at him and a slow smile curled the lips he knew so well. "Glad you enjoyed it. You needed it."

He most definitely had.

"Love you," he echoed the earlier statement.

Terazuma sighed softly, sounding pleased, and Sohryu pulled the covers around them. Sleep begged and he followed it gladly, his lover in his arms.

Terazuma sleepily blinked into the dim sunlight straying into the bedroom, indicating that morning hadn't quite arrived yet. Gazing over at the other side of the bed he found his lover still sound asleep – a rare sight, even after all the time they had spent together. Usually it was Sohryu who was out of bed first, following the call of duty. But not today. Terazuma watched the man at his side sleep – indicator of the large amount of trust the dragon put into him. Sohryu's face was relaxed, giving Terazuma the impression of how the dragon must have looked as a young man. Carefree.

The body at his side moved lazily as Sohryu slowly drifted into the land of the waking, blue eyes cracking open minutely. Terazuma couldn't help the wave of tenderness that blossomed inside him. Wrapping his arms around the still sleep-limp form he brushed his lips over Sohryu's, feeling the man stir inside his arms, sighing softly.

"Morning," Sohryu whispered, snuggling against him, and Terazuma smiled as be buried his face into the long silken blue mass that was his lover's hair.

This was the leader of GensouKai, the mighty Azure Dragon, snuggling up to him like a kitten – and actually purring like one, too.

"Sohryu?"

"Hm?"

"I'd like to ask you something."

"What?"

"Would you... tell me about Touda?"

There was a brief hesitation, Sohryu turning into his arms to look at him questioningly.

"Why?"

"Because."

"It was centuries ago, Hajime."

"I know. I want to get to know you better, Sohryu. Who you were, how to became what you are. Besides, I told you about me, too."

A fully awake Sohryu gave him a sharp look – and sighed. He snuggled up into his arms again.

"Touda... he was four years old when his father dropped him at our doorstep, so to speak, because he was afraid of his own son. My father more or less adopted him..."

Terazuma silently listened to the story about how the child Sohryu had once been had met a frightened little fire serpent, how they had become first friends, then brothers and finally lovers. How Sohryu had to step into his father's footsteps long before his time, how that had affected the young man. And finally how he had found the love of his life – and lost it, leaving behind only a bitter shell, a fragment of the man he had used to be. Only a very insistent, annoying little terrier named Tsuzuki had been able to slowly pull the dragon out of his own purgatory, a purgatory he had lived in for so long.

It gave Terazuma a whole new insight into the man he had come to love so deeply – and also the man, the colleague, he had resented so much in the past. He closed his arms tighter around the lithe body, running his fingers through the long blue strands soothingly and listened while a part of his mind wandered off to a certain violet eyed shinigami and his bonded guardian spirit.

He would have to treat his colleague to a large homemade apple-pie.


End file.
